


Day 1: Explosion

by BarryandCisco_FlashVibe



Series: One Shots [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 04:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13942380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarryandCisco_FlashVibe/pseuds/BarryandCisco_FlashVibe
Summary: “…as of right now, we have no estimate for the number of injured or casualties. All we know is that at around 10:30 this morning there was an explosion at the Queen Mayoral rally,” the reporter said. Quentin tuned out the rest of what she said as he was too busy reading the information that was scrolling across the bottom of his television screen.  It read, “BREAKING NEWS: Explosion at Queen Mayoral Rally during Oliver Queen’s speech to his supporters. Many have escaped collapsed building. Mr. Queen and his sister still among the missing.”





	Day 1: Explosion

**Author's Note:**

> Third Person Limited point of view (Quentin Lance).

Day 1: Quentin/Oliver (Arrow)

            Captain Quentin Lance groaned as he stretched and rolled out of bed. He had been having a rough week as the SCPD had just gotten a break in a case. It had nothing to do with Damien Darhk, but his other cases were still important and still just as gruesome. Normal humans were still just as corrupt and evil as ex-League of Assassins members who had crazy magical abilities. This particular case was his pet project though. He was determined to bring this sick bastard in himself for all of the bodies of children he had left in his wake. Last night he had finally gotten the break he needed and he had headed a raid on the psycho’s location and luck had been in Lance’s favor. They got the guy in cuffs after a shootout with the guy’s psycho fanatic followers. Even guys like this one had their crazy followers in Star City. After the takedown, Quentin had so much paperwork he would have nightmares about it for months, but he would gladly do it all again if it meant getting one more madman off his streets.

            He stretched and winced when he heard the myriad of loud _‘click’_ noises from his neck and lower back. He really needed to take Laurel up on the offer to do yoga together. He had been feeling stiffer than usual lately and he knew she still worried about his health even if he hadn’t had any episodes in a while. Quentin let the warm inviting smell of coffee lead him to the little coffeemaker in the kitchen. Last night he had set it to start percolating at noon, knowing he would need it to get him moving after such a long week. He poured a steaming mug of coffee and inhaled the soothing warmth before heading to his living room and sitting on the couch. He grabbed the remote and turned it on, switching it to his usual news channel. It was a good thing that he had already set his mug down on his oak coffee table, or it would have been shattered on the floor because of the Breaking News Report on his TV.

            _“…as of right now, we have no estimate for the number of injured or casualties. All we know is that at around 10:30 this morning there was an explosion at the Queen Mayoral rally,”_ the reporter said. Quentin tuned out the rest of what she said as he was too busy reading the information that was scrolling across the bottom of his television screen.  It read, “BREAKING NEWS: Explosion at Queen Mayoral Rally during Oliver Queen’s speech to his supporters. Many have escaped collapsed building. Mr. Queen and his sister still among the missing.”

            Quentin smacked his knee against the coffee table in his hurry to get up and rush to his room to see why he hadn’t been called about this. He couldn’t care less about the fact that the still full mug of coffee had been knocked over and its contents were all over the table and floor. He snatched his phone up and cursed as he noticed that in his exhaustion last night he had forgotten to plug it in, so it was dead. He slammed it down on the nightstand and rushed to throw on some clothes before running out of his apartment. Instead of heading towards the station, he headed straight to the location for Queen’s rally. He knew the rescue efforts would have already begun. He had faith in his people to do their jobs even without him. No matter how understaffed they still were lately.

            When he arrived one of his harried-looking men directed him to where the fire chief was screaming at some of the press. As the press scampered away with their metaphorical tails between their legs in fear of the chief’s wrath, the chief turned towards Quentin and said, “Oh thank God Quentin. I was wondering where you were. One of your men said they couldn’t get you on the phone?”

            Quentin gritted his teeth and said, “Yeah, phone’s dead. Catch me up to speed Joe?”

            “Of course. At 10:30 this morning we got reports of a massive explosion at the Queen Rally. First responders made it here pretty soon after. They did what they could to get most people evacuated from the building, but reports say that Queen and his sister insisted on staying until everyone else was evacuated. Unfortunately only a few hundred were able to evacuate before the building collapsed,” the fire chief explained as he lead Quentin over to where they were coordinating the search efforts.

            “No bomb threat called in,” Quentin asked, doing his best to hide the fear and fury that were coursing through him. He was sure even if he failed; it would only be seen as a reaction to someone daring to do this in his city, but the truth was something much more personal.

            “Nothing.”

            “Tch. Thanks Joe.”

            “No problem Quentin. Now you’re here, I can go help my men with the search efforts,” Joe said before heading off to do exactly that.

***

            It had been several hours. Several hours of coordinating search efforts and calling for more backup so his and Joe’s men could get some rest (even if most of them did try to refuse). None of them would be any good to the people trapped if they were dead on their feet. Besides, backup from Central City had already started to arrive, and a few other cities were sending help as well. It had been several nerve-wracking hours of his heart stopping every time a new survivor was unearthed. Some of the survivors were relatively lucky, with just a few scrapes and cuts. Many others were not so lucky. They already had a handful of casualties, and every time a new person was revealed and it wasn’t the one he was waiting for, his heart fell further.

            He knew it was selfish of him to hold one life above all the others who were still trapped, but he couldn’t help it. He jolted out of his daze and looked up from the blueprints of the building he was looking at. “Laurel. What are you doing here? You should be home resting.”

            “Dad, the only reason I’m not stuck in there with Ollie is because he shoved a little girl in my arms and told me to get her to safety. I should be in there too, and I couldn’t sleep because the guilt is eating me alive,” she said. She choked back the sobs he knew she wanted to let go for her friends that were still trapped, and he grimaced as he took in her wrapped wrist and the cuts on her face. Quentin counted himself lucky that at least one of the people he cared about had made it out of the rubble relatively unscathed.

            “I know, but there’s nothing you can do here.”

            She smiled softly and thrusted a paper coffee cup, from his favorite café no less, in his face. “Sure I can. I also got you dinner from Big Belly Burger,” Laurel said, sitting a bag from the fast food chain on the table where his blueprints were.

            “Oh Laurel…alright. Sit down and talk to me while I eat,” Quentin said, sitting down himself with a sigh.

            She laughed, sitting down before saying, “I was hoping you’d say that. I bought enough for both of us.” They talked while they ate, and for a few wonderful minutes he was able to forget the tragedy that was happening to their city. “Do you think Ollie will be okay dad?”

            Quentin’s heart lurched at the mention of the younger man. When they had found Thea, Quentin had been hopeful that the older Queen would be found next, but that had been over an hour before and there was no sign of the older Queen yet. So far, they had found all of Laurel’s friends that had been at Queen’s rally. John Diggle had been one of the first people the first responders had been able to save because he had been leading people safely out of the building, and thus had been under the least amount of rubble. It seems that the collapse of the building had been mostly focused around the center of the building where Oliver would have been giving his speech. “I don’t know, but I hope so.”

            “Hey Quentin! We could use a few more hands over here. The dogs found something, but the rubble here is pretty bad,” Joe called from where he was directing the K-9 units to a new area.

            “I gotta go Laurel. You finish eating,” Quentin said, kissing her on the forehead, reassuring himself that she was really there, before he ran over to where Joe was. He dove right in, helping all he could. They weren’t kidding about the rubble in this area. Quentin helped Joe and a few of his men lift a larger piece of rubble and someone shouted. He looked where they were pointing and he saw a bloody arm revealed up to the shoulder. More shouts rang out and the pace of the digging increased but the caution did not. Quentin’s heart was thundering in his chest and he could barely hear as they continued to unearth the body. It was a man, clearly nicely dressed. This could be Oliver. He froze when a shout for them to stop digging came from Joe. From what he could gather, Queen was breathing shallowly and had been saved from an untimely death by two pieces of debris making a safe pocket for his head and neck. Joe called for the paramedics and they took over from there.

            “Thanks for your help Quentin. I know you know Queen so why don’t you take this chance to get some rest yourself, and look after your daughter too,” Joe said.

            Quentin could tell by the look on Joe’s face that he had no choice in this. He could protest, but he knew from experience that Joe would make his life a living hell for months if he didn’t follow his request. The two of them had been friends for years, and the other man was always looking after Quentin’s health and he knew it was because Laurel had gone to him about it. He couldn’t even respond verbally. He just nodded at his friend and stumbled over to Laurel.

            “Dad? Was it Ollie,” Laurel asked as she grabbed his elbow and helped him sit. He nodded and she gasped and gripped his hands in hers. “Is he…”

            “Yeah, Oliver’s alive.” Quentin’s heart skipped a beat at that. His mind was rolling with all the things that could still go wrong though. He had seen what the collapsed building had done to the younger man’s body and just hoped that his strength and luck would continue just one time more. “Come on Laurel, we’ll go to the hospital. I know you’ll want to be there for him.”

            “Thanks dad,” Laurel said, helping him stand. He stumbled a bit before regaining his balance and heading over to her car. He could retrieve his car later, but for now he was too exhausted to drive.

***

            He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting in the crappy waiting room chair at the hospital, but Quentin was about ready for the glances from Oliver’s friends to stop. When he had shown up with Laurel, he had been expecting questions as to why he wanted to stay and find out if Oliver was going to be okay, but none came. They just nodded at him like they had been expecting him to stay. The glances towards him had started about the same time his nervous pacing had ended and his defeated slump in the chair had started. Their glances were really starting to irritate him. It was like Oliver’s friends were looking into his soul and measuring it. It made him nervous because he and the younger man had been so good at hiding their secret relationship. At least, he had thought they had. The looks they were giving him, like they knew why he was so distraught and basically sitting on the edge of his seat, made him feel like Oliver and he had not been as subtle as they had thought.

            Quentin stared right back at them and observed how well they were holding up themselves after everything. Luckily Felicity had been busy at Palmer Tech and was unscathed. John Diggle was sporting a cast on his right leg from his knee down and had a few bumps, scrapes and bruises on his arms and face, but otherwise had escaped the ordeal intact. The same could not be said for the youngest Queen though. She had insisted on being in the waiting room with her friends at least until they heard word of her brother’s condition. Reluctantly, the hospital staff had agreed and wheeled her down to wait with her friends. She was mostly okay, with just a broken wrist and some lacerations, but the doctor’s concerns were the major head wound and concussion she had received. She had been found in a relatively intact room that her brother had pushed her into at the last minute before their portion of the building had collapsed. She had hit her head as she fell and some rubble had fallen on her arm, breaking her wrist. Thea had been able to explain what happened, but she had been pretty quiet since she had been allowed to stay. Her determination was evident in the fact that her spine was still straight and she hadn’t fallen asleep even though her eyelids kept drooping. Felicity also kept up a constant whisper to Thea to help her stay awake.

            Quentin startled when a large warm hand landed on his shoulder, and as he looked up to see who it was, he realized that he must have zoned out as he hadn’t even noticed Diggle moving over to his side of the room. The younger man gripped his shoulder a little tighter and said, “Hey, you okay Captain?”

            Quentin couldn’t even find the strength to respond verbally, so he just nodded. Diggle frowned and his brows wrinkled as they scrunched up. Quentin felt his heart skip a beat. The man knew. Quentin didn’t know how he knew that Diggle knew, he just did. “Oliver has been through worse. He’ll be okay Captain.”

            Quentin gulped and his voice came out as a croak when he said, “Of course he will. But, shouldn’t I be the one reassuring you?”

            The younger man’s quirked eyebrow was all Quentin needed to see to know for sure that the man knew.

            “We all know Captain.”

            Quentin whipped his head over to look at the blonde woman who had just spoken to him. She was still standing next to Thea but she was giving Quentin a strange look. Knowing what he did about her and Oliver’s almost relationship, he couldn’t blame her for the look. “Know what,” he asked, trying to play dumb and hopefully keep their secret a little longer. Not that he was ashamed of his relationship with the oldest Queen, but Oliver had wanted to keep the secret so his campaign wouldn’t affect Quentin’s career. Who was he to reveal a secret Oliver had asked him to keep, especially now that the man was in surgery and may not make it. At that thought Quentin’s breath caught in his throat and he had to fight to keep the sting in his eyes from becoming actual tears.

            “I know my brother Captain Lance, and I know when he’s happy because he’s in love. I also saw how he tried to fight himself from reacting every time you were in a room together the past few months,” Thea said. She gave him a small, tired smile.

            “Dad, it’s okay,” Laurel said, grabbing his right hand and holding it tightly. He turned to look at her and saw her smiling at him too.

            He let out a shaky breath and brought his other hand to his brow and rubbed it. He gripped her hand tightly and simply said, “Yeah, okay,” and dropped his head back to rest against the wall behind him. A little part of him was relieved that everyone already knew and he and Oliver wouldn’t have to drop that bomb on them. The same part of him was also glad that they all seemed okay with it. Even Laurel seemed good with it.

            It wasn’t too much later that Quentin noticed an exhausted doctor walking towards them at a steady pace and a straight face. He stood as the doctor approached, and stood between Diggle and Laurel, gripping Laurel’s hand tighter in comfort for her as well as for him.

            “How’s my brother,” Thea asked before the doctor could even open his mouth.

            “Well, he’s stable. He’s lucky his head was protected. He has a broken femur and clavicle, as well as a few cracked ribs, and some internal bleeding, but that boy must have a guardian angel because other than that he is fine. I’ve seen his file. He had worse injuries from the five years he was on that island, so I think he’ll pull through this just fine.”

            Quentin saw Thea collapse back in her wheelchair and Quentin knew the feeling of relief she must be experiencing right now. He collapsed back into his chair and let out a low sigh of relief. “Thanks doctor,” Felicity said.

            “Of course. He hasn’t woken up yet, but you can still go see him,” the doctor said before leaving to get back to work.

            Quentin looked up when someone grabbed his hand. He saw Thea looking at him with a smile and watery eyes. “Come on Captain.” That was all she said before Felicity started rolling her towards Oliver’s room. Laurel smiled at him and grabbed his hand, pulling him up off the chair and leading him in the same direction as the rest of Oliver’s little family.

            Quentin knew what to expect when entering the room, but his heart still fluttered uncomfortably at all the machines and tubes. He approached the bed and almost couldn’t recognize the younger man in the bed. Oliver was pale with blood loss, and even though he had to be on a ton of pain killers and still coming down from the anesthesia, his brow was scrunched in pain. Thea had wheeled around to the other side of the bed to hold her brother’s hand, Diggle had took up a position leaning against the far wall that Quentin knew had the best view of the room. The man was ever the bodyguard, even when he wasn’t being paid for it. Felicity had stepped forward to kiss Oliver’s brow and then walked over to one of the chairs in front of the bed and collapsed into it. Laurel had let go of his hand to kiss Oliver’s cheek before pushing Quentin forward. He gulped and, being careful of the IV, he wrapped the other man’s hand in his. He felt something bump into the back of his knees and he collapsed into the chair when he saw it. He nodded at Laurel gratefully, and his breath shuddered as she kissed his head and moved to stand next to Diggle.

He didn’t know how long he sat there just staring at Oliver and willing him to open his eyes, but he noticed that he was the only one left in the room at some point, and knew at least a couple of hours had to have passed. At one point, he vaguely remembered Laurel saying she was leaving and that she would bring him a change of clothes in the morning. A nurse had even wheeled Thea back to her room so she could rest and they could better monitor her head injury and concussion. Since Quentin knew he wasn’t leaving until the younger man awoke, he decided to move his chair to the other side of the bed so he could hold Oliver’s hand in both of his without worrying about the IV. He kissed the back of Oliver’s hand and whispered, “Come back to me Oliver.”

***

            Quentin started waking up slowly. He had a pain in his neck and back, but it was something he could ignore as he felt fingers stroking his scalp. He jolted up from the warm haziness, and those fingers fell away from his head. He looked up and had to choke down a sob when those oh so familiar blue eyes stared back at him. Oliver’s eyes were still clouded by the pain medication but Quentin was just happy to see those beautiful blues. He grabbed the hand that had been stroking his scalp, and gripped it in both of his, kissing the back of it. “You know, we could have just had a nice dinner with your friends to reveal our relationship. You didn’t have to be so dramatic.”

            Oliver choked on a laugh and said, “You know me. Gotta make a scene.”

            Quentin’s smile was tremulous as he said, “I love you so much Oliver. I know neither of us can promise to never be in a situation like this again, but still. Don’t scare me like that again.”

            Oliver laughed again and then winced. “Don’t make me laugh with broken ribs Quentin.”

            Quentin shook his head and just gripped the blonde’s hand in his. “Sleep Oliver. You’re safe.” Oliver nodded and closed his eyes with a soft sigh. Quentin continued holding his hand and listening for every breath. He was going to have some words with John Diggle about guarding Oliver more, even when Oliver thought he had to be self-sacrificing. Otherwise, Oliver would be figuring out how to be a vigilante in a bubble.

           


End file.
